In Reply to: Terrible Impact on Steelhead and Salmon posted by ghrousseau on September 20, 2005 at 09:52:45:

Yeah, it's a wonder that any species survived before man was around to "manage" the ecosystem ;-)

On (a bit) more serious note, I've come to take the long view of these things (anything else is fairly depressing): If paleobiology has taught us anything it's that evolution is a long series of mass extinctions and regenerations.

Even if mankind weren't putting its thumb on the scales of life, the whole balance will be wrecked by the next ice age, asteroid, global increase in volcanism, polar reversal or some other cataclysm a few eons (or less) from now.

In the long run, extinctions just create opportunities for greater diversity. I doubt humans will be around to see it though.